There were many voices urging Brandon Flowers to join the Chargers last month, but one may have resonated beyond all the rest.

Flowers’ close friend and former college teammate at Virginia Tech is Eddie Royal, and the wide receiver was constantly in the cornerback’s ear, insisting that his best fit would be in America’s Finest City.

So how did Flowers tell Royal he was joining the Bolts, and what was number 11’s reaction?

“He of course kept it a secret until the end,” Royal said with a laugh.  “He told a bunch of us in a mass text, but it didn’t matter how he told me.  I’m just happy he said he’s going to be a Charger. We’d been going back and forth the whole time.  I texted him every day.  He probably got tired of me.  But whatever it takes to get him, right?  And we got him.”

Spend a couple seconds around Flowers and Royal and you’ll realize the two share an unbreakable bond.  But as close as they are off the field, they are fierce competitors when they square off in practice.

“It’s fun going up against him, but we’re competitors so we are not buddy-buddy on the field at all,” Flowers said. “We want to make every single play.  We push each other and everything.  We have lockers right next to each other and he’s my brother since college, but that doesn’t matter on the field.”

Royal described a similar mindset between the two during practice.

“Trust me, there are no laughs between us at the line of scrimmage,” he said.  “There is a lot of competition between us.  We’re going to bring the best out of each other.  We go 100mph against each other every play.  We’re just trying to get each other better.  At the end of the day you’re always friends, but in between those lines we’re competitors.”

Once the final horn sounds, any good-natured animosity between the two fades away as the duo reverts to being fast friends.

“It’s awesome that we’re teammates,” Royal said.   “There are so many teams and so many guys that it’s great to get the opportunity to play with him.  I know his mentality.  He’ll come to work every day and he’s going to make plays for us on Sundays.  I’m glad to have him as a Charger.”

Flowers has reiterated numerous times what a perfect fit San Diego is for him, and it’s clear one of many reasons for that is Royal’s presence.

“If you told me we’d be teammates in the NFL back when we were in college I would have been excited because I know what type of player he is,” said Flowers.  “He is a dynamic player.  Any team he’s on he will do some damage.  So it feels good to be reunited again in our prime veteran years.” Read